So the journey begins with an early alarm and a quick walk in the pouring rain to the ferry terminal. Big surprise that that it is poorly signed and it is dark and raining but eventually I get my ticket and am prepared to wait an hour for my 9am trip. No! Come with me and off I go down a long terminal walkway with a nice lady who puts me on the earlier trip. So far so good.
It's like an old Love Boat and there is a big atrium with a double starircase and sofas and a coffee bar. But it is old. I settle down still not entirely sure I'm waiting an hour and suddenly the whole ship begins to rattle and roar - and we are off. After a coffee and a pastry I wander up the stairway to see a whole bank of windows but crappy plastic chairs. Gibraltar is draped in a cloud and the sea is full of cargo ships.
We don't get too far when there is a shutter and the lights go out. In a minute they go back on and about ten minutes later off again and it is clear the engines have stopped as well. We sit for a minute and a crew member goes racing by. At this point I'm expecting Jack and Rose and the heart of the sea too but luck prevails and we are on our way again.
We arrive in Cueta which is North Africa but still Spain - who knew! As is well and I take a taxi to the border crossing. Now I had read about this and was prepared but it is absolute chaos. Beside people trying to run across the border there are pack women loaded like mules as a loophole allows anything that you can carry to cross duty free. There are also no other tourists that I see. And lots of cars and rvs. The only thing worse would have been rain and I had left my earbuds in to try to discourage the touts for help. I did ask a few policeman and they were helpful but less than optimal tour guides. After about 20 minutes it all started to make sense and I kind of hot in line with the cars and made my way to the booth. A funny old man gave me an immigration form and even helped me fill it out - no he wasn't an employee! I finally got my stamp and as I walked away he motioned with hand. Although I hate it I happily gave him the contents of my euros pocket which was about 1€. And I was finally on my way into Morocco!
The next task was to get to my overnight destination - Chefchaeoun. There is no direct public transport so I hired a "grand taxi" which is nothing more than an old Mercedes that goes from town to town. Local taxis are petit. I had all in tensions of trying to find someone to share the ride but that obviously didn't pan out. And this was also my first attempt at bargaining. I was told 500 - 600DH would be good which is about 50$USD for a 2 hour taxi ride. I am not very good at this stuff but we settled at 550DH. The ride was mostly fine and I was surprised how green and also mountainous northern Morocco is. It was also raining on and off and very cold. We passed varying levels of "civilization" from a man and a camel to the new Ritz Carlton being built.
We finally arrived in the city of Chefchaeoun and even though I had good directions my driver did not know how to get to the proper medina gate. So we asked around and finally got to the right place. Most of the hotels/inns/riads are actually inside the walls of the old city and only have walking paths - no cars.
I tried to call to have my innkeeper Ana come meet me but I couldn't get the call to go through - the right number was about 20 digits. So I decided I could find it myself - or maybe not! I thought the streets of the old city in Sevilla were crazy And there are no street names or addresses. Oh yeah and the entire city is painted light blue. So I asked a few people and was headed in the right direction-ish when this little kid about 10 said "casa la palma"? And he grabbed 1/2 my roller bag and off we went. When we got to the door Ana told me not to give him more than 1DH but the only coin I had was a 5 and like the man at immigration, I was happy to do so at thus point.
Ana and Carlos are a lovely Spanish couple that have essentially a home stay with four rooms. Nothing fancy but clean and comfortable. After my first welcome glass of mint tea. Carlos proceeded to fill me in on where to go and what to do and also confirmed every item in my itinerary as a must do even before I explained it to him.
Chefcheouan is a little Rif Mountain town and there isn't much to see except the blue buildings and the woman in their traditional garb with head wraps and most of the men in Berber robes with pointy hoods. So I headed to the main square to have a look around and have lunch.
I'm tired, it's drizzling and cold and I'm a little unimpressed. I find the spot Carlos has suggested and it is really nice but it seems I am the only on there and I am seated at a table for ten. The good was good - soup and a beef tangine. More tea and a chocolate crepe for dessert (a lot of menus are prix fix). I head for a walk around and to see the waterfalls coming down from the mountain. There seems to be not many tourists and just loads of little craft shops near the square and scores of little mini markets mixed into the rest of the medina. It begins to rain hard again and it takes forever to find my way back. Once again I am tired cold and wet and slightly unimpressed - is this all of Morocco? I'm here another two weeks!
After a well deserved sleep I am surprisingly hungry again and it is actually dinner time. Once again I head out to Carlos's suggestion. Turns out his directions are not so good - and by the way google maps don't work much without roads. I finally find it and it is a charming spot with sofas and a fireplace just as you would imagine a Moroccoan style restaurant. The service is spotty but the food is quite good. I could really use a glass of wine but you are not able to buy of even byob wine in this spot. So it is water, a goat cheese salad, a chicken pastine (in pastry with lots of herbs and yummy spices) and a lemon tart with an espresso.
I have a short chat with the two French guys at the next table that are motorbiking around the country. And finally I am ready to call it a day. A couple minor detours and I am home.
And I am glad to call it a day.
[by the way did I mention they guys that wanted to sell me some hash?]
This is a really long post and am tired but I am almost a day behind and I want to get this posted. The sun shone today and it turned out to be a really good day. I even decided I liked Chefchaeoun. The trip to Fes and new friends all along the way to follow.
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